'Breaking Ground: Indian Ceramics Triennale' to open at the Jawahar Kala Kendra, might pave way for ceramics to be appreciated as an art form, as opposed to being viewed solely as an artisanal craft

Jaipur | Insight into the Indian Ceramics Triennale to be hosted in Jawahar Kala Kendra from August 31, 2018

These days, the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK), Jaipur, has become a laboratory of sorts for ceramic artists. A ten-feet-long mud house to be built and fired on-site, a collaborative project involving sound, a performance-based work, objects embedded with QR codes–these are just some of the contemporary works that will nudge you into engaging with ceramics differently. As the JKK in collaboration with the Contemporary Clay Foundation gets set to present the first ever Indian Ceramics Triennale—Breaking Ground—featuring 35 Indian and 12 international artist projects, 10 collaborations, 12 speakers, a symposium, film screenings and workshops, one wonders if this event signifies a major shift in the field—one which allows ceramics to be appreciated as an art form in its own right, as opposed to being viewed solely as an artisanal craft.

Jaipur | Historical Tryst with Clay

India’s tryst with clay, particularly terracotta, is as old as civilisation itself—from the evidences found in Sothi-Siswal, dating to as early as 4600 BC, to the handmade seals and vessels in red, orange, brown and black from the Indus Valley Civilisation and the painted grey ware from the Iron Age cultures. Indian literature too contains references to potters—kumharas—showing the historicity of the tradition of village potters in India. This practice, however, suffered a setback during the 200 years of British rule, when the “general decline of the traditional arts the world over was an outcome of the rise of the industrial world of factories and cheap, mass-produced, machine-made goods,”— as written by Partha Mitter in a recent essay in Marg about the decline of handmade objects during colonial rule. It is set in the 1930s-40s, when in addition to the hereditary potters, one saw the concept of studio potters, prevalent in the West, seeping into India as well. The combination of post-Independence optimism and global influences such as the Mingei (or the Japanese folk-art movement) prompted these artists to look inwards to practices in villages again.

Jaipur | Art Versus Craft

In the past 20 years or so, with a new generation of ceramic artists emerging in centres such as Jaipur, Delhi and Auroville, a dialogue has been taking place between the traditional and the contemporary. Galleries are now beginning to show this as an art form–recently Gallery Espace, in Delhi, held a group show of ceramics nicely titled Earth Memory—while museums such as the Piramal Museum of Art have been holding significant retrospectives such as Mutable: Ceramic and Clay Art in India Since 1947. But, because this shift is slow, even now, people continue to debate about whether ceramic is an art form or a craft. Adil Writer, architect-turned-ceramic artist, based in Auroville, and known for his large-scale ceramic and unfired clay-on-canvas installations and murals, feels that this “constant nonsense about art and craft has been going on for a long time, more so in the world of ceramics,” he says. “In Sanskrit, there is no separate word for art and craft, there is only kala.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Madhvi Subrahmanian, who is part of the six-member core team of mid-career ceramic artists, driving the Triennale. “Objects of beauty were always made with a function, be it religious, secular or mundane. Only in the Modernist period, art stepped outside the realm of function to take on distinct forms of painting, sculpture or photography in the Indian context,” she says. Further, in the post-Modernist era, boundaries between mediums started becoming fluid, and this differentiation based on materials is irrelevant in concept-driven contemporary art. “In fact, some art theorists argue that we might be in the post-contemporary era, with a greater need for materiality and process. This comes as a backlash to the proliferation of new media arts, stemming from technology and the Internet. So, this shift of using materials like clay for varied expressions is happening as we speak,” she says.

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Ingrid Murphy | I.O Touch, 2018

Jessika Edgar | Let’s All be Ethereal and Transcend (Detail/ Part of a larger installation), 2018

Jessika Edgar | Let’s All be Ethereal and Transcend (Detail/ Part of a larger installation), 2018

Rakhee Kane | Shifting Identities, 2018

Jaipur | Making it Easier for Artists

All these years, ceramic artists had been hampered by limited infrastructure. A studio was expensive to set up—you had to make your own kiln, as there was nobody to build it for you. Or you had to import equipment, which was an expensive proposition. “Now, Shimpo has come to India with pottery wheels, while Skutt offers kilns. So, now you have professional artists as well as hobbyists and semi-professionals,” says Anjani Khanna, director, Contemporary Clay Foundation, and a member of the Triennale’s curatorial team. So, you have people starting off as functional potters and moving on to making ceramic art work. “Globally, and in India, all clay training begins on wheel, making pots. It takes a while for ceramists to then step forward beyond making functional pottery,” says Gurgaon-based artist Rahul Kumar. The shift comes about when ceramists get exposed to a whole new world of ‘expressing’ through their work. Kumar states his own experience as an example, when he got to broaden his horizons during a Fulbright scholarship to study ceramics in the US. Soon after, he continued to make vessels, but slowly started to bring about an organic fluidity in his creations. His practice started to focus on the character of the form, drawing on memories of old sites. His current body of work most often is not a pot form. “I feel I am fully utilising the characteristics of the media, dropping all inhibitions,” he says.

Reyaaz Badaruddin | Still Life, 2018

Jaipur | The Practice

What fascinates artists is the possibilities that the medium holds. Clay is a living material, pulsating with the energy of earth. As it is moulded, it retains memories of the hands that passes it through, becoming a repository of memories. As Subrahmanian says, it is being used not only to create form but also represent contemporary socio-political concerns, as seen in the recent Ai Wei Wei-work, Sunflower Seeds. “It is versatile but demanding—it requires knowledge of handling and of firing. Now, there are practitioners who don’t fire their works. So, the Triennale covers all that,” says Khanna.

Savia Mahajan | Liminal Occurrence (detail)

The artistic practices out there today are diverse, pushing the boundaries of what the material can achieve. Writer, for instance, sees himself as an architect and a ceramist, “I might not be creating buildings, but my work is architecture, scaled down,” he says. Perhaps, this comes from his experience in urban design. “The minute I discovered clay, I found it to be immediate and responsive,” says Writer. What is significant about his practice is not just the scale of his ceramic murals, but also the acumen that goes into installing them. Also, interesting are some of the unique collaborations that he has been a part of, such as the one with K Laxma Goud, titled In Collaboration, which was shown at Pundole Art Gallery in 2016. The duo partnered to create, among other objects, a series of treasure boxes and platters featuring GOUD’S line drawings and clay portraits. “This partnership came about when he expressed an interest in working with clay at my studio. I knew that he had previously worked mostly with terracotta. At Mandala Pottery, he adapted to stoneware very smoothly! I would make most of the forms and he would inscribe them with his inimitable line drawings,” he says.

At the Triennale too, one will get to see such path breaking collaborations and creations. “An artist plans to have live musicians interact with his pieces, made with terracotta and bamboo,” says Kanika Anand, exhibition coordinator at the event. Korean artist, Juree Kim, will create intricate works in clay, which will slowly dissolve, sag or soften, once she places them in shallow trays filled with water. This work stands as a metaphor for the houses demolished in her neighbourhood. The platform also allows artists to showcase their evolving engagement with the medium. “Currently, like my installation at the Triennale, I am interested in exploring the world of interactive environments within clay, incorporating different media,” says Subrahmanian.

Jaipur | Viewers Engagement with Ceramics

When you get to walk through an eight-feet-high gateway or download QR codes attached to found objects, it will change the way you engage with ceramics. “Each of us, as a viewer, has one’s own personal and emotional connect with clay. That adds an additional layer. It feels tactile,” says Kumar. “There is still a feeling that clay work can break, and it sure can. But paper can tear and canvas can fade as well. Unless you smash a clay object, it remains as is for 200 or more years!